By Jane Ng

When I was looking for a preschool for my three-year-old son last month, on my list of criteria were: no homework, no spelling and no tests.

Learning, to me, comes in all forms and is by no means measured by homework or tests. Formal schooling will come eventually, so the longer I can put it off for my son, the better.

So last week, when I heard that a committee tasked with revamping primary education had recommended no exams in Primary 1 and 2, I cheered.

The aim is to let children ease into primary school and enjoy learning. It is also a result of a new way of teaching, which hopes to nurture pupils who love learning and are armed with the skills to tackle life's challenges.

In place of exams are bite-sized tests after each topic.

While I think this is an excellent move, my husband wonders if this will result in greater stress from Primary 3 onwards.

As pupils still have to sit for the same Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) at Primary 6, will it result in teachers trying to make up for lost time by piling on the work, exams and stress when they can?

With parents being the kiasu lot they are, will it mean starting tuition even earlier to ensure their children do not fall behind when it comes to the crunch?

As Telok Kurau principal Wilbur Wong put it, it was the parents who looked worried when told the school was doing away with exams three years ago. The children were cheering.

As it is, there are parents who say they are worried about their children losing two years of preparation time for the PSLE, or are concerned that their kids will not be used to exams if these are introduced only in Primary 3.

So while recommendations such as removing exams could mean a sea change, it would take a massive mindset shift for parents - and teachers - for the system to change.

To me, letting a child enjoy learning in the first two years may pay off in the long run. Perhaps, in subsequent years, he would be more motivated to pick up books to study on his own after his curiosity for learning has been aroused.

Another suggestion by the Primary Education Review committee that both my husband and I like is the focus on developing a child's non-academic areas, such as his ability to speak in public or work in a team.

This is not a revolution by itself, but the clincher is that teachers will have to assess them on these areas and provide feedback to parents in a qualitative way, and not just award a grade for conduct, as has been done in the past.

Rosyth School has been experimenting with a more 'holistic' form of assessment since 2005. Principal Celine Ng said the aim was to develop a pupil's skills and attitude.

For instance, during English lessons, the teacher would evaluate a pupil's ability to present his project to his classmates. Areas teachers look out for include delivery, eye contact, voice projection and clarity.

The assessment rubrics are given to the parents and the summaries of different criteria will give a gauge of the child's ability and the areas he needs to work on.

Assessing children in this manner will help build confidence and prepare them for the global workforce, said Mrs Ng.

In another area, a child is given feedback about his ability to collaborate with group members in a project.

Feedback such as his contribution level, sensitivity to others, valuing ideas of group members and showing common courtesy are shared with the child and his parents.

On another level, the teacher will be able to track the child's development over time.

Such an assessment system would have pleased parents like Madam C. Ng, 45, an accountant, whose children are now in junior college.

Ten years ago, when she met her children's primary school teachers, she felt they were not able to tell her enough of her children's performance in non-academic areas.

'I always told them not to mention my children's grades any more as I had seen their exam and test scripts. I wanted to know how my children were faring in terms of their eloquence and courage; if they were getting along well with classmates; what were their strengths and weaknesses.

'Most of the time, you could tell the teachers were not very sure. One even told me that I was a very different parent, as most parents would want to know how to improve their children's grades,' she said.

Possible reasons for a teacher not being sure of a child's non-academic performance could be that he has not been trained to observe these traits, or that he is too bogged down by administrative tasks and teaching the curriculum.

These same reasons exist today and could be a stumbling block when it comes to assessing children in non-academic areas.

For one thing, such an assessment will simply mean more work for teachers because they need to evaluate every pupil on a variety of things. There is no right or wrong answer, unlike marking a mathematics paper.

As it is, when teachers are now asked to write more comments in a pupil's report book, many find it a chore and simply copy and paste stock comments from the past.

With an already heavy workload, this time-consuming form of assessment may be just adding to a teacher's burden.

I'm not sure what else the Education Ministry can do to lighten a teacher's load. Measures have been introduced in the past to alleviate administrative duties, but whether or not they are successful remains to be seen.

Another problem that teachers face when writing comments in report books is that they do not know a pupil well enough to write in detail about the child.

In fact, at the higher levels, testimonials are written by the students themselves and signed off by the teachers.

Yet another big area will be the training of teachers to assess the child differently.

The committee has recommended that teachers be trained to use a range of appropriate assessment techniques.

Training will have to be done not only for new teachers at the National Institute of Education, but also for existing teachers who are used to the old way of teaching.

Whether or not the new system will fly depends largely on the successful training of these teachers, their mindsets, and the way they implement it such that they are not going through the motions just to give parents some written feedback.

While some will say these recommendations alone cannot change a system in which exams have always been the measure of success, at least they are a step in the right direction.

Emphasising that one's non-academic achievements, such as values and character traits, are just as important - if not more so - than exam results is surely the way to go. And what better place to teach this than in primary schools.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on February 01, 2009.